selvaraja somiah’s twisted thoughts

Me, just an ordinary Penangite who spent a good part of my learning life in North Borneo and Kathmandu. I’m a geologist turned freelance writer who’s joining the blog sphere now. What I post are my general views, my ramblings, and opinions of my thoughts of what is happening in my country. You are welcome to write your comments, but seditious and racial remarks will be deleted. I am no big writer but will try my best to provide my thoughts with my simple English. I welcome suggestions and opinions on my blog so that it can be improved further for the benefit of all.

Want to retain your sight as you age? Well, eat a diet full of fruit and vegetables daily, say researchers.

A new study, led by Indian-origin scientist Usha Chakravarthy of Queen’s University in Belfast, has revealed that antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables may slow down sight loss in many elderly people.

Age-related muscular regeneration (AMD), an incurable eye disease which causes blurring of central vision, affect a number of aged people across the world.

For their study, the researchers developed a new antioxidant supplement and tested it on more than 400 people across Ireland to check whether nutritional supplements helped sharpen vision.

The subjects, with an average age of 77, took part in clinical trials investigating whether rich antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables could prevent progression to the more serious late AMD.

The study showed the intake of high levels preserved the muscular pigments, slowing down the progression from early AMD to late AMD. In contrast, muscular pigments of participants in a group given placebos declined steadily.

“These findings are important as this is the first randomised controlled clinical trial to document a beneficial effect via improved function and maintained muscular pigment.

“Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to identify the numbers needed to treat to prevent one case from progressing from early to late AMD,” Chakravarthy was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying.